Entertainment Reviews:

New York Times - 02/23/1996
"...Darkly captivating....[Furlong has] a haunted, anguished look that speaks louder than words..."

Product Description:

The idyllic life of Carolyn and Ben Ryan (Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson) is shattered in an instant when the girlfriend of their teenage son, Jacob (Edward Furlong), is found brutally murdered. Jacob was the last person to see her alive, and he quickly becomes the prime suspect in the case. Worse yet, Jacob has disappeared, rendering himself a fugitive and leaving his shocked parents to try to piece together the mysterious puzzle amidst a maelstrom of angry townspeople and media backlash.

Based on the 1992 novel by Rosellen Brown, BEFORE AND AFTER finds director Barbet Schroeder revisiting the kind of subject matter--the intertwining of crime and complicated family dynamics--he wove into suspense-spiked art in REVERSAL OF FORTUNE. As in Schroeder's earlier film, the focus is not so much on the crime and the slippery facts surrounding it as it is on the people most affected by it. Neeson and Streep reward this focus with naked, courageous performances as the parents struggling to prove their son's innocence while also trying to hold their family together.

Description by Buena Vista Home Entertainment:

Before And After

Two of Hollywood's brightest stars, Meryl Streep (THE HOURS, ADAPTATION), and Liam Neeson (GANGS OF NEW YORK, SCHINDLER'S LIST) deliver spellbinding performances in this riveting, suspense-filled thriller! A small, close-knit community is rocked by a shocking murder -- and the only suspect is the teenage son of a respected local family. Suddenly, Dr. Carolyn Ryan (Streep) and her husband, Ben (Neeson) are faced with a gut-wrenching dilemma: Whether to risk everything on their son's innocence ... or protect him from his possible guilt! Devastating yet powerfully entertaining, you're sure to agree with critics everywhere who found BEFORE AND AFTER thrilling from beginning to end!

Plot Synopsis:

In BEFORE AND AFTER, based on the 1992 novel by Rosellen Brown, a respected couple's teenage son disappears after his girlfriend is brutally slain. The couple's conflicting responses to the possibility of their son's guilt threaten to irreparably rend the fabric of their marriage.